I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1471 

To prevent Government shutdowns by providing for the automatic 

continuation of Federal funding during a lapse in appropriations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2011 

Mr. KILDEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Appropriations 

A BILL 

To prevent Government shutdowns by providing for the automatic continuation of Federal funding during a lapse 

in appropriations. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Government 

5 Shutdowns Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC CONTINUATION OF FEDERAL FUNDING. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—If, as a result of a failure to enact 

8 a regular or continuing appropriation Act or joint resolu9 tion, there is a lapse in appropriations for any projects 

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1 ducted in the previous fiscal year, and for which appro2 priations, funds, or other authority were made available 

3 in such fiscal year, there is appropriated, out of any money 

4 in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and out of 

5 applicable corporate or other revenues, receipts, and 

6 funds, such amounts as may be necessary for continuing 

7 such projects or activities (including the costs of direct 

8 loans and loan guarantees), at the current rate for oper9 ations and under the authority and conditions provided in 

10 the applicable appropriation Act or Acts that provided 

11 funds for the project or activity for the previous fiscal 

12 year. 

13 (b) CONTINUATION PERIOD.—Appropriations and 

14 funds made available and authority granted for a project 

15 or activity pursuant to this Act shall be available until 

16 whichever of the following first occurs: 

17 (1) the enactment into law of an appropriation 

18 for such project or activity; 

19 (2) the enactment into law of the applicable ap20 propriation Act for such fiscal year without any pro21 vision for such project or activity; or 

22 (3) the last day of the fiscal year for which 

23 such appropriations and funds are made available or 

24 such authority is granted for such project or activity 

25 pursuant to subsection (a). 


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1 SEC. 3. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. 

2 (a) EXTENT AND MANNER.—Appropriations made by 

3 section 2(a) shall be available to the extent and in the 

4 manner that would be provided by the applicable appro5 priation Act. 

6 (b) COVERAGE.—Appropriations made and authority 

7 granted pursuant to this Act shall cover all obligations or 

8 expenditures incurred for any project or activity during 

9 the period for which funds or authority for such project 

10 or activity are available under this Act. 

11 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 

12 (a) NO NEW STARTS.—No appropriation or funds 

13 made available or authority granted pursuant to section 

14 2(a) shall be used to initiate or resume any project or ac15 tivity for which appropriations, funds, or other authority 

16 were not available during the previous fiscal year. 

17 (b) APPORTIONMENT TIMING.—Appropriations made 

18 and funds made available by or authority granted pursu19 ant to this Act may be used without regard to the time 

20 limitations for submission and approval of apportionments 

21 set forth in section 1513 of title 31, United States Code, 

22 but nothing in this Act may be construed to waive any 

23 other provision of law governing the apportionment of 

24 funds. 

25 (c) HIGH RATES FOR OPERATION.—Notwithstanding 

26 any other provision of this Act, except section 2(b), for 


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1 those programs that would otherwise have high rates for 

2 operation or complete distribution of appropriations in the 

3 period for which appropriations for such programs are 

4 made available under this Act because of distributions of 

5 funding to States, foreign countries, grantees, or others, 

6 such high initial rates for operation or complete distribu7 tion shall not be made, and no grants shall be awarded 

8 for such programs funded by this Act that would impinge 

9 on final funding prerogatives. 

10 (d) LIMITED FUNDING ACTIONS.—This Act shall be 

11 implemented so that only the most limited funding action 

12 of that permitted in the Act shall be taken in order to 

13 provide for continuation of projects and activities. 

14 (e) PREVENTION OF FURLOUGHS.—Amounts made 

15 available under section 2(a) for civilian personnel com16 pensation and benefits in each department and agency 

17 may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary 

18 to avoid furloughs within such department or agency, con19 sistent with the applicable appropriation Act for the pre20 vious fiscal year, except that such authority provided 

21 under this section shall not be used until after the depart22 ment or agency has taken all necessary actions to reduce 

23 or defer non-personnel-related administrative expenses. 

24 (f) PAY FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.— 

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1 able under this Act for the pay of members of the Armed 

2 Forces, the rate of pay for such members shall not be de3 creased by reason of this Act. 

4 (g) APPLICATION OF CERTAIN AUTHORIZATION RE5 QUIREMENTS.—Funds appropriated by this Act may be 

6 obligated and expended notwithstanding section 10 of 

7 Public Law 91–672 (22 U.S.C. 2412), section 15 of the 

8 State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 

9 U.S.C. 2680), section 313 of the Foreign Relations Au10 thorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (22 U.S.C. 

11 6212), and section 504(a)(1) of the National Security Act 

12 of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 414(a)(1)). 

13 SEC. 5. ADJUSTMENT OF ACCOUNTS. 

14 Expenditures made pursuant to this Act shall be 

15 charged to the applicable appropriation, fund, or author16 ization whenever a bill in which such applicable appropria17 tion, fund, or authorization is contained is enacted into 

18 law. 

19 SEC. 6. ENTITLEMENTS AND OTHER MANDATORY PRO20 GRAMS. 

21 (a) For entitlements and other mandatory payments 

22 whose budget authority was provided in previous appro23 priation Acts, and for activities under the Food and Nutri24 tion Act of 2008, activities shall be continued at the rate 

25 to maintain program levels under current law, under the 


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1 authority and conditions provided in the applicable appro2 priation Act for the previous fiscal year, to be continued 

3 through the date on which appropriations for such pro4 grams under this Act expire (as specified in section 2(b)). 

5 (b) Notwithstanding section 2(b)(3), obligations for 

6 mandatory payments due on or about the first day of any 

7 month that begins after the first month in which appro8 priations for such programs are made under this Act but 

9 not later than 30 days after the date on which appropria10 tions for such programs under this Act expire (as specified 

11 in section 2(b)(3)) may continue to be made, and funds 

12 shall be available for such payments. 

Æ 


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